Pagitt v. City of Keokuk

LeGRAND, Justice.

These cases involving the tragic deaths of two young boys, sons of Noel J. Pagitt and Mary Jo Pagitt, are here for the second time. An earlier interlocutory appeal settled — or so we thought — a parent’s right to recover for loss of companionship and society in an action for the wrongful death of his minor children. See Wardlow v. City of Keokuk, 190 N.W.2d 439 (Iowa 1971). On the subsequent trial of the case, a jury found the city’s negligence had caused Randall Lee Pagitt and Steven Craig Pagitt to be swept into a storm sewer. Death by drowning resulted. The estate of each…